Well Bulldogs fans, it looks like we’ll be seeing you Monday night. Gonzaga beat South Carolina, 77-73, in the first Final Four semifinal. After breaking the glass ceiling to get to where college basketball’s road ends, they’re gonna stick around for a chance to win the whole damn thing.
Gonzaga reaches 1st-ever championship game, holding off South Carolina to win
The Zags are 40 minutes away from a national title.
The first half’s biggest storyline had to be Przemek Karnowski’s eye injury. The Bulldogs’ big man got poked in the eye during the opening stanza and missed the tail end of the first half.
The most interesting thing about Karnowski’s absence was how little it mattered to the Zags. They went on a 14-5 run to end the first half and went into the break with a 45-36 lead.
Despite all the issues with sight-lines in the arena and too much natural light getting into the University of Phoenix stadium roof, the Zags shot a lights-out 57 percent in the first half, but in the second half, as these things often do, the game swung back the other way. That’s what South Carolina does.
In a game of runs during the second half, the Gamecocks ripped off a 14-0 stretch in less than three minutes to tie the game at 65 with 7:39 left. The Bulldogs would answer back with a 7-0 stretch of their own.
They’d hold on for dear life coming down the stretch. They’ll now await the winner of Oregon-North Carolina for all the marbles.
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